12/10/2008 @ 6:00AM

MetaData: Cisco Speaks In Tongues

For years,
Cisco
has advanced the idea of a “smart network”–one that intelligently manipulates data rather than acting as a mere conduit. Now that smart network may be taking a course in linguistics.

At Cisco’s
analyst conference Tuesday, the company’s chief executive John Chambers demonstrated an experimental feature of its high-end videoconferencing systems that simultaneously interprets the languages spoken by its users.

Chambers talked via telepresence with Mauricio Cruz, who answered in Spanish. In about one second, the system translated Cruz’s words, posted English subtitles at the bottom of screen and read them aloud in a computerized voice. (Back to main story: “Cisco’s Future In Pictures.”)

The networking giant’s CEO admitted that the translation feature, developed over the past several months with software from Carnegie Mellon University, misses some words and isn’t perfect. But “this is where the architecture is going,” he said. “It isn’t about where the technology is today, but where it will be two, three, five years out.”

The software powering Cisco’s “universal translator” experiment was imbedded in its “Media Experience Engine,” the network device announced Monday and designed to intelligently route and integrate video in a company’s networks, says David Hsieh, Cisco’s director of marketing for telepresence.

Hsieh wouldn’t say when Cisco plans to release the interpretation technology, which is capable of translating French, Spanish, Italian and Chinese. But he said Cisco hopes to integrate it into future versions of its telepresence systems, which can cost as much as $300,000.

“Adding this kind of tech will make the world truly flat,” says Hsieh. “We’d love to have this kind of translation ability, so that telepresence doesn’t just bridge distance gaps, but also cultural and language gaps.” (Back to main story: “Cisco’s Future In Pictures.”)